SAGINAW, MI — As community organizations Saginaw Rising and Parishioners on Patrol were setting up the audio system for a rally against gun violence Thursday, March 28, in front of the Saginaw County Governmental Center, 111 S. Michigan, a man with a gun strapped to his hip joined the crowd of about 20 spectators.

Timothy Giblin, who offers NRA concealed pistol license courses in Midland and Detroit, said he heard about the rally on Facebook and thought it was pointless.

“It’s shortsighted,” Giblin said. “Everyone hates violence, but focusing on guns when we have a social problem is not the solution.”

Giblin, who said he is a combat perspective training instructor, stood off to the side of the crowd with a black holstered gun on his belt.

“It’s a West German Sig,” he said. “I have eight rounds in it, I might have nine.”

Giblin said he doesn’t understand what all of the gun control talk is about.

“They’ve got some crazy self-conscious fear of firearms. They’re not scared of cops, well actually some of them are scared of cops with guns — which is really odd to me.”

At one point during the rally, a man approached Giblin and questioned him about carrying a gun (see video). The man declined to give his name.

NRA member protests Saginaw Rising Committee anti-gun violence rallyMidland resident Timothy Giblin, an NRA Combat Perspective Trainer, showed up to protest the Saginaw Rising Committee's anti-gun violence rally in front of the Saginaw County Governmental Center Thursday, March 28. Giblin arrived with a handgun strapped to his side, and debated with a committee member about the answer to gun violence in America.

Speakers at the rally addressed violence in the city and called for more police to take guns off the streets.